


A Confession

by Coyote_the_Trickster



Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Birds of Prey (Comic), Black Canary (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Bisexual Barbara Gordon, Bisexual Dinah Lance, F/F, Femslash, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Happy Ending, Love Confessions, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson, Pining, Stream of Consciousness, Unrequited Love, dick grayson is a good friend, maybe smut later?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:34:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29566878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coyote_the_Trickster/pseuds/Coyote_the_Trickster
Summary: Dinah decides it's time to tell her friend how she really feels. Barbara's forced to reexamine the nature of their relationship.
Relationships: Barbara Gordon & Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon/Dinah Lance
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There is a serious lack of Dinah Lance/Barbara Gordon up in here and I am here to change that. This will likely only be a couple of chapters long. Happy reading!

"I have to tell you something."

"Oh. Ok."

Barbara turned her head to face her friend before placing their dishes in the sink. She swore she caught a glimpse of concern in Dinah's eye, but the observation was overrun by the buzz of having her long-lost friend in her apartment. It had been awhile since they’d seen each other. Or even talked for that matter—but now she was starting to wonder if Dinah’s sudden call to “catch up” had more than she was letting on.

Dinah sat down on the couch, letting out an audible exhale as her back made contact with the cushion. She didn’t look at Barbara, not even as she positioned herself next to her. Dinah’s silence was worrying.

“Whatever it is, Dinah—we'll figure it out, together,” Barbara thought to herself as she waited for Dinah to speak. There was nothing the two of them couldn't do. They had spent years fighting together, watching each other's backs as the Birds of Prey. Whatever trouble Dinah had landed herself in, they'd get out of it. Together. They always had before.

Dinah had crossed her arms over her chest, only to unfold them a second later and close her eyes. Barbara couldn’t hold it in any longer—

“Dinah—“

“—I haven’t been honest with you,” Dinah cut her off, her eyes fluttering open as she focused on something across the room, “And you deserve to know...why I haven’t be around much lately…”

Her voice was low. Serious.

Barbara nodded in support and offered, “It’s not like you to go radio silent.”

Dinah leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. Her hair fell down from behind her ear and covered her neck. Barbara’s whole body moved, her hand moved to hold Dinah’s wrist.

“Dinah, whatever it is—” she began again, repeating aloud what she had been thinking.

“Babs, just listen. Ok?”

“Ok.”

Barbara brought her hands back. The desire to help her friend was overwhelming. God, she had missed Dinah so much over the last few months. She barely had any idea of what her friend had been up—if she had gone back home to Seattle. Or Star City? Was she still crime fighting, or had she found someone to share her life with and left the vigilante life behind? Dinah was a wanderer; it scared Barbara more than she liked to admit.

“I love you, Babs. You are my best friend,” Dinah continued, “The longer I know you, the more I love you.”

A smile tugged at Barbara’s lips. She felt lucky Dinah decided she was worth wandering back to—

“Babs—”

And it was so nice to hear her name on Dinah’s lips again—

“I—my feelings are so past platonic at this point that I’m not sure of any way back—“

Oh.

Barbara’s smile was on the verge of disappearing, but her eyes remained on Dinah.

“I needed some space,” Dinah said, her focus unwavering as she glanced at her, “And you deserve to know why...so you don’t start thinking you did something wrong. So you don’t blame yourself.”

There was a pause.

“Dinah, I’m sorry.” It was the only thing Barbara could think to say, “I’m sorry I never noticed.”

“I know.”

Dinah’s voice was a little lighter, but it didn’t help ease any of the guilt that had swelled up inside her. Barbara silently tried to reason with herself, but her usual dose of rationalizations didn’t work well when others were involved. Yes, she could push down her own emotions well-enough, deny their existence until the sun came up! But anyone else? Forget it! That’s how she had found herself dressing up in cape and cowl in the first place—

Dinah raised her eye to meet Barbara’s before sitting up.

“I’m not saying this to make you feel bad,” she offered Barbara a sympathetic smile, “You just have a bad habit of blaming yourself for things that aren’t your fault.”

Barbara glanced down at her hands in her lap. There was that feeling of helplessness, again. _Helpless_ , like when her mother left. _Helpless_ , like when her father told her she couldn’t be a cop. _Helpless_ , like when she heard first heard James killed someone. _Helpless_ , like when Batman told her she wasn’t ready. _Helpless_ , like when Joker shot her—

Dinah leaned back, her head tilted towards the ceiling. She let out another audible exhale, while she held her hands in front of her. It was then Barbara had noticed they were shaking. Was Dinah afraid of anything?

Dinah’s head turned back to Barbara, noticing her perpetual stare. She let out an uneasy laugh.

“I’m not as strong as you are,” she explained, squeezing her hands together to stop their trembling.

“No,” Barbara shook her head and met Dinah’s eyes. She felt pride for her friend, “That’s not true.”


	2. Chapter 2

It wasn’t like she had never had the thought before—that her relationship with Dinah might sometimes creep beyond the edges of friendship, or that her friend was attractive, both physically and otherwise. Barbara could never deny how much Dinah had meant to her and how much she had missed her in the last couple months. And she felt alone, even now after seeing Dinah only a few hours earlier.

Barbara’s room was completely dark, the light from the moon having just missed her window. She stared at the wall, daunted by how unrecognizable it looked in the dark. She hadn’t any idea how long she had been lying there awake feeling helpless once again.

Dinah had always held a special place in her heart. In her early days as Batgirl, Barbara remembered the admiration she had for the other woman. Dinah had so many more years of experience than she did, both as a vigilante and as a leader. It was obvious why Barbara reached out to her as Oracle. That admiration only seemed to grow in the years to come.

She depended on Dinah for a lot of things. It was the only dependency she allowed herself to have—

Barbara turned on her back, frustrated, eventually sitting up and reaching for her phone. She dialed his number without a second thought. Maybe Dick was having a quiet night, too...

“Barbara? It’s late. Everything ok?”

She could hear the wind whip across the receiver and she had to wonder if he was out on patrol. An image of Dick standing atop a roof of some high-rise in Blüdhaven decked out in Nightwing gear.

“Sorry,” she apologized, surprising herself, “Are you in the middle of something?”

“Not really,” he said nonchalantly. She couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. His breathing was slightly labored—like he was running somewhere. What was going on over there?

“Hey,” Dick’s voice came firmly over the receiver. He seemed to stopped whatever moving he was doing before, “Babs what’s going on?”

She didn’t quite know how to answer. She wasn’t even sure why she called, but the words eventually emerged.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

Barbara leaned her head back and sighed, “Do you ever blame me for not giving us another chance?”

Dick didn’t answer right away. There was complete silence for a moment, the wind had seemingly stopped as if he ducked away somewhere sheltered.

“No, never,” he finally said, seriously. Sincerely.

She closed her eyes, relief rushing over her.

“I think...I might’ve been in love with someone else,” she finally said, strangely calm.

“Yeah? Who?” Dick huffed—he was on the move again, “I’d like to meet this person—kick his ass for breaking up Gotham’s favorite superhero couple—”

Barbara laughed, enjoying the playfulness in Dick’s voice. Their banter was one of the things she missed most about them—

“Trust me,” she finally let slip, “You couldn’t take her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! If you have any comments or opinions feel free to share. I love hearing what people think, criticism and all!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! As always let me know what you liked about the story and/or what didn't work for you! I am always interested in all the comments!


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